September 12, 2004

Between a Woman and Her Doctor

Legally, a doctor can still surgically take a dead body out of a pregnant woman. But in reality, the years of angry debate that led to the law�s passage, restrictive state laws and the violence targeting physicians have reduced the number of hospitals and doctors willing to do dilations and evacuactions (D&Es) and dialations and extractions (intact D&Es), which involve removing a larger fetus, sometimes in pieces, from the womb.